


The Proposal

by Ellimac



Series: How Much the Heart can Hold [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-03
Updated: 2015-11-03
Packaged: 2018-04-29 17:19:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5136140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellimac/pseuds/Ellimac
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose decides it's time to pop the question to Pearl.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Proposal

Rose woke on Saturday morning feeling like she was floating. She replayed the events of the previous evening in her mind: dinner out with Pearl, then a long walk as the sun set, then staying up until nearly one in the morning talking… and sometime around midnight, the revelation that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with Pearl.

She hugged her arms across her chest. Even the idea of it made her ridiculously happy. She had fallen asleep thinking about it, and had a dream about it, though she couldn’t remember the details. All she remembered was white, and pink, and the look of happiness on Pearl’s face… it had felt so real, like she was getting a glimpse of the future.

But now she was just being silly. It was far too early to start planning a wedding. She hadn’t even proposed yet. She could call Pearl right now and ask her, and they could start planning their wedding as early as noon—

But no. She couldn’t think of anything less romantic than proposing over the phone. She didn’t even have a ring yet, for goodness’ sake. No, she was going to do this right—a ring, romance, possibly flowers…

She got up and started to pace. Despite her late night, she felt full of energy. She wanted to run in circles, leap into the air, shout it from the rooftops. She wanted _everyone_ to know how happy she was.

Well. She couldn’t tell everyone, but she could certainly tell someone. She reached for her phone and dialed Garnet’s number. If anyone would know how to plan the best proposal ever, it would be Garnet.

Garnet answered quickly. “Hello?”

“Garnet, I want to propose,” Rose said, getting straight to the point. “To Pearl, I mean. I realized it last night, and I’m—oh, I’m floating on air.”

“Congratulations,” Garnet said, her voice equal parts surprise and delight. “When?”

“I don’t know yet. I don’t even have a ring. I want it to be… you know, perfect. I was hoping you could help me out.”

“Help you plan the proposal, or help you pick out a ring?” Garnet sounded amused. “I’ll do both, if you want.”

“Oh, would you really? _Thank_ you, Garnet. Thank you so much.”

“No problem,” Garnet said. “How about we get together tomorrow afternoon? We can pick out rings, talk about plans…”

“That sounds marvelous,” Rose said. “Garnet, you’re the best.”

“I know,” Garnet said, a smile in her voice. “One more thing. Does Amethyst know?”

“Oh!” Rose caught her breath. “I forgot she was visiting this week. No, I haven’t told her. Do you think I should?”

“I think Amethyst would love nothing more than to help you propose to her best friend.” Rose could imagine the grin on Garnet’s face. “Should I call her, or do you want to?”

Rose laughed. “Do you really have to ask? I’ll call her. But—Garnet?”

“Yes?”

“I want this to be a secret. So don’t tell anyone else.”

“Not a word,” Garnet promised. “Thanks for telling me.”

\--

Rose didn’t call Amethyst right away. As much as she was bursting to tell her news, she also knew that Amethyst was unlikely to be awake before ten in the morning. But even though she waited until after eleven, Amethyst didn’t pick up. Rose sighed as a recording of Amethyst’s voice played in her ear.

“Yo, this is Amethyst. Leave a message at the beep and I’ll call you back. Or I might not. We’ll see.”

“Amethyst, it’s Rose,” she said. “I have a surprise for you, so call me back when you get this. Actually, no, I’ll tell you right now—I’m planning to propose to Pearl. It’s a secret right now. Only you, Garnet, and I know. I really want it to be a surprise for her, so please don’t say anything to her, but I’d love your help planning it, if you wouldn’t mind. Call me back soon.”

She hung up the phone and gazed around her house. The thought, _Now what_? came into her head. There was plenty to do—she could clean up the house, she could fix some food for herself, she could go for a walk—but all she wanted to do was plan a wedding. Or at least _talk_ to someone about it. For a moment, she considered calling Pearl then and there and proposing over the phone, and forget planning—but it had to be special. Pearl deserved that.

She looked outside. It was a beautiful day, matching her mood exactly. She ought to spend a little time outside, she decided; a walk, in fact, would be the perfect way to pass the time. It would ground her, and give her a chance to think about something other than the wedding that she wasn’t even certain would happen yet. It would certainly stop her from checking her phone every two seconds to see if Amethyst had called back yet.

But she took her phone with her, just in case.

\--

Five minutes into her walk, her phone rang. Sure enough, it was Amethyst. Rose put the phone to her ear and immediately had to hold it away as Amethyst greeted her with an excited scream.

“Hello, Amethyst,” she said, not bothering to suppress her grin.

“Oh my god,” Amethyst said. “I got your message—this is so awesome! You’re getting _married_!”

Rose laughed. “I haven’t even proposed yet. She might not say yes.”

“Are you kidding? Of course she’ll say yes. She’s totally gaga for you. Unless you propose by, like, spelling it out with spiders or something, I think you’re golden.”

“What, you don’t think I should use spiders? All right, I’ll cross that off my list of ideas.” Rose turned and started heading back home. “I’m guessing bees are off the table, too.”

Amethyst laughed. “No bees, no spiders, and I wouldn’t recommend snakes, either. Did you mean it when you said you wanted me to help? Because I would _love_ to.”

“Of course I meant it,” Rose said. “You’re her best friend. I want this to be perfect.”

She could hear Amethyst’s grin in her voice. “Because Pearl deserves nothing less, right?”

“Exactly. When does your flight get in? Garnet and I are going ring shopping tomorrow—”

“P’s picking me up from the airport tonight at around nine. Do you think I could come with you guys?”

Rose held her phone between her ear and shoulder as she unlocked her door. “Absolutely. Just don’t let Pearl know what we’re doing.”

“Not a problem,” Amethyst said, then squealed. “I just can’t believe my best friend is getting married! I’ll talk to you soon, Rose—right now I gotta pack.”

“Talk to you soon,” Rose said with a smile. “Thank you so much, Amethyst.”

\--

Shopping for a ring went well. Though Amethyst argued for a pearl ring, Garnet had pointed out that it would be much more romantic to give Pearl a rose quartz ring. Amethyst couldn’t argue that, so Rose had picked out a beautiful gold ring inset with rose quartz. Now they all sat around the table, Rose with her hands on the ring box, unwilling to put it away just yet. It felt strange for them all to be there without Pearl, but every time she reminded herself of the reason for that, she got a giddy feeling of excitement.

“Okay,” Amethyst said. “So, obviously, it has to be this week, because there’s no way I’m going to miss this.”

“Obviously,” agreed Rose with a smile. “I thought I could invite her out on a date, somewhere very romantic—somewhere rather private, too. Not a restaurant, unless we can be sure no one else is going to be there—”

“Definitely not a restaurant,” Amethyst said. “Not romantic enough. Anyway, everyone proposes in restaurants. It’s so overdone. You know what you should do? Hire a plane to write ‘will you marry me, Pearl’ in the sky.”

Rose laughed. “I think that might be a _little_ over the top.”

“Ah, maybe.” Amethyst grinned, unrepentant. “Can I help it if my ideas are too great?”

“How about the beach?” Garnet suggested. “You could suggest the two of you go for a walk…”

“Now, that one’s not over the top enough,” Amethyst said. “You know what I think? I think you should invite her out to a party.”

Rose shook her head. “You know Pearl’s not a party person.”

“No, hear me out. Say we plan it for the last day of my visit. We can say it’s a goodbye party or something. We can keep it low-key, you know, just me and you and Garnet and a couple friends, and Pearl, of course. And then _bam_ —you pull out the ring and sweep her right off her feet. See? Not too public, not too over the top… it’ll be perfect.”

“If we have it in the evening, we can have mood lighting,” Garnet added.

It was an enchanting idea, Rose had to admit, but she still had her doubts. “I don’t know… if it’s just the four of us, you don’t think Pearl would mind the attention?”

“No way, she’ll love it. I mean, come on. It’s _us_ ,” Amethyst said. “Seriously, she’s known me since kindergarten. I think she’d be upset if I _weren’t_ there.”

“Well…” It was a good idea, the romantic side of her argued. Wasn’t a proposal at a party, among friends, more romantic than a proposal at home? It would barely even count as public. Pearl would love it.

“You wouldn’t even have to do any planning,” Amethyst said, seeing her hesitation. “For the party, at least. You could plan the proposal, and Garnet and I would totally plan the party for you. It’d be fun. Right, Garnet?”

“Right,” Garnet said.

“Hang on,” Rose said. “Where would this party be? It wouldn’t make sense to throw a going-away party at my house, and we can’t very well ask Pearl. And Garnet, half your things are in boxes…”

“Don’t worry,” Garnet said. “There’s plenty of places around town to have a party. Just leave it to me and Amethyst.”

Rose looked from Garnet to Amethyst. Garnet gave her a reassuring smile, and Amethyst gave her a thumbs up. And after all, she thought, at heart Pearl was just as much a romantic as Rose was.

“Okay,” she said. “Let’s do it.”

“Yes!” Amethyst threw up her hands in celebration, then grabbed Garnet’s arm. “We’ve got to get planning. We’ve only got a week.” She flashed a grin at Rose. “You just sit back and relax, Rose. This is going to be the best proposal ever.”

\--

At first, everything seemed to be going smoothly. Garnet texted that she’d found a place for the party, and Amethyst texted soon after that it was going to start at 7 PM the following Saturday. A perfect time, Rose thought; early enough that they could stay for a while without staying up too late, and late enough that, as Garnet said, there would be plenty of opportunity for mood lighting. The best part was, though, that Pearl needed no convincing whatsoever. She called Rose on Monday evening to say that Amethyst was having a party on Saturday and she wanted Pearl to come, and would Rose mind coming with her, pretty please?

“I’d love to come,” Rose said. “It sounds like fun.”

“Oh, thank you,” Pearl said. “I think Amethyst wanted me to invite you, anyway. She put a lot of emphasis on the ‘plus one’ part of the invitation.”

Rose laughed. “She knows you too well to think you’d want to come to a party, even her party, by yourself.”

And that seemed to be that. Rose had hardly stopped floating since Saturday morning, but after the conversation reminded her of her intentions, she felt even higher on the air, like nothing could possibly drag her down.

\--

_I invited a few more of my friends, to make it seem more realistic. That okay?_

Rose’s brow furrowed at the text from Amethyst, but only briefly. It was only a few more people, and anyway, she was right; she did have more friends here, and it would seem odd if she only invited Garnet and Pearl. So she texted back, _Yes, that’s fine_ , and left it at that.

\--

The next time she got a text about the party, it was from Garnet. _Amethyst hired a DJ. And bought a bunch of balloons._

Well. Balloons and a DJ—that wasn’t so bad, was it? And again, it helped with the camouflage of the party. It was a very Amethyst thing to do. Besides, if there was loud music, it would lessen the chance of her proposal being overheard and noticed by anyone else.

She ignored the twinge of worry in her stomach and got back to what she was doing.

\--

 _Update on the party: now it’s a potluck_ , Amethyst texted. _Can u bring an appetizer dish? You and Pearl can bring the same dish._

_All right. Who’s bringing the main dish? You?_

_Vidalia. Idk if you’ve met her but we’ve been friends since college._

Rose frowned. The name sounded familiar, but she wasn’t sure if she had met her. _Does Pearl know her?_

 _Yeah, they’ve met._ _No worries, girl. This party is still gonna be chill. :P_

Rose leaned back. The twinge of worry was still there, but Amethyst’s texts eased it a bit. _What are you and Garnet bringing?_

_Dessert! I thought cake would be a good idea._

Rose smiled. _Cake sounds excellent. Can’t wait._

\--

Not long after that series of texts, Garnet texted. _Amethyst told you we’re bringing cake?_

_Yes. Why? Was it supposed to be a surprise?_

_Nope. Did she say we wanted 2 write “congratulations” on it? And take it out after u propose?_

The worry surged back, though she couldn’t quite explain why. _No, she didn’t say that._ She paused, and then added on, _If you don’t mind, I’d rather you didn’t._

_Sure. No problem, Rose._

And the worry subsided again.

\--

By Friday, though, the twinge of worry had settled into her gut, apparently to stay. Amethyst and Garnet kept texting her updates on the party, and with each new text, her stomach felt like it was twisting in on itself. First the extra friends Amethyst was bringing, then the DJ, then the balloons, then the cake… and all right, she had nixed some of their ideas, but even so, when Amethyst texted her on Friday evening that she “couldn’t wait for the big event,” Rose fretted that she hadn’t nixed enough of them.

Well, she could always find a deserted corner to propose in. And if worst came to worst, she could always find an excuse to invite Pearl outside, and propose there.

\--

Rose spent all of Saturday with an uneasy feeling, quite the opposite of the floating-on-air feeling she’d had this time last week. No matter how many times she told herself everything would be fine, she couldn’t help feeling like everything that could go wrong, would go wrong. She checked at least ten times that the ring was in her purse before forcing herself to calm down. What was the worst that could happen, after all?

Well. Pearl could say no, and she would be heartbroken. But, as Garnet and Amethyst kept reassuring her, there was no way that would happen.

Rose’s heart was pounding against her ribs as she knocked on Pearl’s door. She went over everything in her head as she waited for Pearl to answer. She had the ring; she had made absolutely sure of that. Garnet and Amethyst had been texting her through the evening, letting her know that everything was set up. Everything was ready. Nevertheless, she was more nervous than she could ever remember being.

Pearl opened the door, smiling widely. “Rose. Thank you so much for coming to the party with me.”

“Of course,” Rose said, offering her hand, which Pearl took. “I could hardly turn down your invitation.”

Pearl smiled as they walked to the car together. “It feels like I’ve hardly seen Amethyst at all this week. Well—she’s been staying with me, so I’ve seen her plenty. But it seems like she’s had so much else to do. I’m glad she’s having this party.”

“Me, too,” Rose said. She cast about for something more interesting to say, but the only thing that came to her was, “will you marry me?” and she couldn’t say that yet.

A companionable silence fell between them as they got in the car. Rose wished it would end. She was sure Pearl could hear her heartbeat, pounding as it was in her own ears, and with every second it stretched she was sure Pearl would pick up on something unusual in her body language. Not to mention the silence gave her more space to focus on her own thoughts. _Why_ was she so nervous? It wasn’t as though she expected Pearl to say no.

 _It’s the party_ , said a little voice inside her head. _You know Pearl doesn’t like to be put on the spot._

But it was only a small party, she reasoned. And it wasn’t as though Pearl would be the center of attention for long. In fact, if it came down to it, she could always pull her away from the party and propose to her in the quiet outside. Then Pearl wouldn’t have to be the center of attention at all.

But that was exactly the problem, she realized. That was why this whole party business had been making her uneasy. She would have to leave the party, or find a quiet corner to propose in, if she didn’t want to put Pearl on the spot. If only they had stuck with the original plan—with only Garnet and Amethyst there to see it, there would be no pressure. But now… now, with Amethyst’s friends and a DJ and possibly the whole room staring at them, it would never work.

“Rose?” Pearl’s voice startled her out of her thoughts, and her grip tightened on the steering wheel. “Are you all right? You look… tense.”

“Pearl…” Rose hesitated. What could she do, now? They were halfway to the party. She couldn’t turn around without confusing Pearl, and yet—even after all this—she still wanted the proposal to be a surprise. She couldn’t explain…

Ah, well. She had the ring, didn’t she? And Pearl was right here by her side. That was all she really needed.

“There’s something I have to do,” she said, coming to a decision.

Pearl gave her a concerned look as she pulled over to the side of the road. “Rose, is everything all right?”

“Everything’s fine,” Rose assured her. “It’s just… will you join me for a moment, please?”

She stepped out of the car and came around to Pearl’s side, where Pearl was just getting out. Despite Rose’s reassurance, she still looked worried.

“Is something wrong?” Pearl said.

In answer, Rose pulled the ring box out of her purse and handed it over.

“I was going to propose tonight,” she said. “I still am, if that’s what you want. Except… it was going to be at the party tonight. Amethyst’s goodbye party, only not really—we planned it together. At least at the start. It was just going to be the four of us—but Amethyst thought it needed to be more realistic, so she invited some of her friends, and it just sort of… snowballed. I kept telling myself it was going to be fine, but I realized—you would never forgive me if I proposed to you in a crowd like that. You would _hate_ it. So…” She got down on one knee. Pearl, she saw, hadn’t even opened the ring box, and was watching her with one hand covering her mouth. Deciding to take this as a good sign, Rose said, “Pearl—will you marry me?”

“I… oh, Rose…” Pearl’s voice trembled, and as she dropped her hand to reach for Rose’s, Rose saw that there were tears in her eyes. “Yes. Yes, of course, I’ll marry you.”

Relief and happiness flooded through Rose’s body. She stood up, vaguely aware that she had been kneeling in dirt which was now conspicuously all over the front of her dress, and wrapped her arms tightly around Pearl. Pearl flung her arms around Rose in turn, pressing her face into Rose’s shoulder. It was only when Rose realized the ring box was digging into her back that she let go.

“So,” Rose said, a wide smile on her face, “do you still want to go to the party? If you like, I can propose to you again. If you want to act surprised…”

Pearl gave a watery smile. “You know I’m no good at acting.” She opened the ring box and slipped the ring onto her finger. It looked like it belonged there, and she stood there admiring it for several seconds before seeming to remember where they were. Rose didn’t mind; she was too busy admiring Pearl to care how long they stood here.

“I’d love to go to the party, anyway,” Pearl said. “It is Amethyst’s goodbye party, after all. Now it really is, since there won’t be any proposing going on.” She looked at the ring again and smiled.

“All right,” Rose said. “I’ll let Garnet know what’s happening. And then we can head on.”

Her text to Garnet was brief, though she hoped it would be enough to tide Amethyst over until she could give a full explanation. _Proposed to Pearl early. Didn’t want to put her on the spot. Still coming to the party. See you soon._

She hadn’t even gotten the car started again when Garnet texted back. _Okay. Don’t worry about it. I’ll keep Amethyst distracted 4 you._

Then, a moment later, _She said yes, right?_

Rose looked over at Pearl, who was once again staring at her ring, and smiled. _Was there ever any doubt?_


End file.
